Homecoming 2009

Question: When did you attend the University of Minnesota?

Answer: I attended the U from 1968 to 1972.

Question: In what ways were you involved with other University organizations?

Answer: I was briefly a member of a fraternity and we had decorations…you know, Homecoming was always a lot of fun back in those days because all of the fraternities along University Avenue would be decorated. There was especially- I remember SAE, the lions, they always had a big show. A lot of them really did it up. Mine wasn't very industrious; I think we just kind of took an old chair and beat it up and put up a sign that said "Beat Michigan" and that was pretty much the extent of what we did for it. But some of them were quite elaborate.

Question: What are your feelings towards football coming back to campus?

Answer: I'm delighted to have football back on campus again. I hated to see Memorial Stadium torn down. It was a great place to go to a football game. As a student I would jog around the track during breaks between classes, run stairs there. I used to do a lot of swimming at Cooke Hall. That whole complex there -that had a lot of meaningful meaning.

Question: How have football games changed without a stadium on campus?

Answer: I was never in favor of the dome for a lot of reasons. I think college football ought to be played outside. And I definitely think college football should be played on campus. And I've never felt that the atmosphere at the dome was anything like what the atmosphere was like when football was on campus. I'm just thrilled to see the game coming back to campus.

Question: What would be your ideal Homecoming for today's student body?

Answer: I think the bonfire is a great idea, the night before. Again down at the River Flats, that'd be a nice place to have it. I think all the decorations of the fraternity houses and such- I really liked that- it gave them a purpose. It took several weeks to plan it and to decorate the houses- I think that'd be wonderful. Again I think the marching band, marching down University Avenue prior to the game-wonderful. Um, those are the things that I remember as being important to me and really enjoyable. So I would like to see that brought back to campus.

Question: Do you remember any other activities going on during Homecoming week?

Answer: The years I was here, 1968 to 1972, it was the height of the Vietnam War so um, conflicting cultures on campus. The Greek system was, in a way, becoming somewhat less fashionable because it represented kind of a traditional way to attend school. And that was in conflict with a lot of the protesting of the war that was occurring on campus as well. The Homecoming dance was, if I recall, fairly formal-coats and ties and such-and again that represented the more traditional form of entertainment. And a lot of people look at that as passé and inappropriate during a time of such stress that the nation was experiencing at the time. So again, it was a period of transition between traditional and non-traditional views of what a college student should be.

Question: What was campus like on a Homecoming game day?

Answer: For most games, during the four years I was here, I remember as crowds were good and very enthusiastic, a lot of students attended and it was a lot of fun.

Question: What did you like the most about the football games?

Answer: I remember the marching band marching down University Avenue and that was really exciting. They would march down University Avenue and as they did for every game, they'd march in through the tunnel in the old stadium and that was really a thrill every game. I never got tired watching that. And I never missed a football game the four years that I was there and in part I made sure I got there early so I could see the marching band perform.

Question: What was the marching band's routine during games?

Answer: They'd come out and there were several hundred members. The band would come out and the drum major, if I recall it was Jim Mitchell- very tall, very regal looking guy with the big hat the drum major wears. And he would run through this tunnel that the band members performed and he would run full speed out to the 50 yard line and leap about five or six yards and land right on the 50 yard line as the band was playing. And then he would tilt his head back until the hat touched the ground behind him. And then he would start directing the band-it was really exciting. John Philip Sousa's "Minnesota March" is what they've always come out of-it was just great.

Question: What was the student section of the stadium like?

Answer: I remember it as being quite unorganized. (Chuckle) Yeah, it was pretty rowdy. I remember the student section always being very rowdy. And I remember there were often non-students, older fans, mixed in with the students and they did not seem bothered one bit by the rowdiness. I think they enjoyed it.

Question: What other amenities did the stadium provide?

Answer: What a lot of people don't know is that underneath the stadium there were a lot of facilities open to the student body. There were racquetball courts underneath there-I played there often- and to get there you had to take the tunnel from Cooke Hall. And I remember that the walk to the tunnel was lined with red or yellow or green markers, because you could get lost very easily. It was like Hansel and Gretel finding their way back home because it was very confusing. And one went to the field house and one went to Memorial Stadium.

Question: What was your favorite part of the Rooter Club?

Answer: The attractive part for me, for the Rooter Club, was getting tickets on the 40 yard line. It was just fun being part of a big group, it was a good way to get to know people. Um, and it was fun being part of the um, the event beyond the game itself because on those occasions when we had nationally televised games you knew you were on national television and you forming a picture of a gopher or a big "M" or whatever-that part was fun.

Question: How many people were members of the Rooter Club?

Answer: I don't remember how many people. There must've been several hundred though because in order to form an image in the stadium that was actually big enough to be seen, there would've have to been several hundred people. And they were very clear about making sure that you sat in the right place so that when they called off a number, which corresponded to a color-coded card, that you actually flipped the right card at the right time. Because if you didn't do that the picture wouldn't turn out.

Question: What were the duties of the Rooter Club?

Answer: We were the card section. Those cards formed a visual image that would be held for a minute or two. And we did probably six or eight or ten of those a game.

Question: What was the Rooter Club's procedure of holding the cards during the game?

Answer: I was given one of these-a Rooter Club jacket with a hood and it was white. So the person in charge would tell us exactly when we were getting ready to put up an image. So we were instructed to put our little hoodies on and then everybody would bend over so that um, so that the cameras from nationally televised game-the national TV audience and those people on the far side of the field-for a moment would see a huge block of white, just white. And then on a certain count everybody would lift up holding a card and that card was color-coded. So everybody had a different color or many had different colors and the card section would form an image of a gopher or an "M" and we would hold that card there in front of our faces for a minute or so. And then the person in charge would say "okay, 1, 2, 3, down." And then it would turn all white again and then back up and we were done. So that's how it worked-it was actually very slick.